So that was exciting. But what did we learn?

By Scooter_McG

It was possibly the most anticipated 49ers preseason game of recent memory and we have now gotten to experience a 49ers game with the new QBOTF Trey Lance. And Lance didn't disappoint in the early going. His first drive tantalised with a very impressive strike that Aiyuk couldn't handle for what would have been a first down after Lance extended the play with his legs, and then Brunskill got steamrolled on third down giving Lance no chance. His second drive lasted just one play - a nice play action rollout to the left to get the defense moving that way, only to send a deep ball back to the right that travelled like a bullet 50 yards in the air and hit Sherfield in stride for the 80 yard TD. 

Unfortunately Lance's day did not ever reach such heights again. His receivers and OL let him down numerous times, with a couple more dropped balls and plenty of busted blocks that led to drives stalling. There were a couple of passes Lance would like back, including two passes where only the power behind the ball prevented INTs as it appeared he was a tad late on the throws and didn't recognise defenders closing quickly. His work in the two minute drill was also less than stellar, as he missed some passes and his near INTs came during this period. 

Lance would end the day with just 5 completions on 14 attempts, for 128 yards and the TD. However, with three blatant drops on well thrown and very catchable balls, plus another to James that looked like James may have been able to make a better play on, the stats did not do him justice. Nor did having two screens to Jennings called (correctly) as backward passes, which if they had been forward passes would have helped boost his stat line a little. 

All in all it was a promising start for Lance, but also showed some of the key areas Lance needs to work on. 

So what does this mean for Lance and the 49ers moving forward? Well, to be honest I don't think we learned anything from this game we hadn't already heard from training camp. And I don't think Lance's performance moved the needle either way as to how ready Shanahan may feel he is to supplant Jimmy G. Much to the chagrin and consternation of some, both here and elsewhere, the offense Shanahan ran was very vanilla. This though was by design. During the post game press conference Grant Cohn queried Shanahan on the way they kept Lance in the pocket and didn't include any designed runs, to which Shanahan (after pointing out the 80 yard TD was a rollout) outlined this was what they wanted to do in this game. No doubt this was as much about giving Lance reps doing the "standard" plays as it was about keeping some of the more exotic plays under wraps until the regular season. 

In some respects this is the ultimate complement to where Lance is at mentally - Shanahan didn't feel the need to give Lance some layups or make things easy for him by installing a lot of plays that keep things simple by letting him use his athleticism. Rather, he wanted to challenge him and get him exposure to the areas he needs the most work, so that when he is called upon he is ready.

What Else Stood Out 

While Lance was the focus of most people's attention, there were plenty of other takeaways from this game. Starting with the negatives, the offensive line was, well, offensive. Having rookie Jaylon Moore at LT and Jake Brendel at centre to start the game didn't help things early, though it was Brunskill that got steamrolled for the first sack. After McGlinchey, Tomlinson and Brunskill exited things got a whole lot worse. Reports during training camp were that the second string OL looked very poor, and this game did nothing to assuage those fears. Perhaps most disappointing was that Aaron Banks appeared to really struggle in pass protection. It doesn't look like he will be challenging for a starting spot any time soon. 

With the OL being bullied it is no surprise then that the running game never really got going in the first half. The RBs were consistently being hit in the backfield or around the line of scrimmage. It wasn't until the second half against the Chiefs third and fourth stringers that the RBs started finding a bit more space. 

The receivers didn't do much to help their QBs out either in this game. Aiyuk had an uncharacteristic drop on what would have been a nice gain (and Lance's first completion). But he was far from alone in this regard. And there were some lacklustre efforts aside from the drops. I thought both James and Benjamin in particular stood out for all the wrong reasons in this game, which from all reports has mirrored what they have done in training camp. On the positive side, Trent Sherfield continued his positive momentum out of camp into a strong cameo perfomance highlighted by his 80 yard TD. He has a lot more speed than I had realised and looks lock solid to be the 3rd or 4th WR this season. Jauan Jennings also had some positive moments. 

On defense, the defensive line was less imposing than I had anticipated. While they played ok pretty much across the board I didn't see a lot of disruption and there were a few too many holes being opened up in the running game. Some of that also comes back to LBs not filling gaps properly. It should also be noted that none of the starting DL played in this game while the Chiefs entire starting OL played, so it stands to reason they maybe weren't as dominant as hoped. 

At LB, while it appeared he missed a few assignments in the running game, Jonas Griffith was certainly very active and looked like he could be a decent backup. Even so, it didn't come as too much of a surprise to hear the 49ers added Mychal Kendricks after the game as without Warner the Chiefs found it a little too easy at times to find space up the middle. 

The secondary was more effective than I anticipated, especially with so many starters missing. The rookies in particular impressed me, with Hufanga very active and making a number of 3rd down stops. Lenoir also had a strong showing, highlighted by his INT on a tipped ball, though his more impressive work was in giving the opposing WRs no room on his sideline. 

Lastly, the special teams units were awful until late in the game. This has been an ongoing issue for the 49ers. Wishnowsky consistently struggled to either get enough hang time or enough depth in his punts, the coverage units as a result struggled to get down the field in time to make a stop, and the return game was poor. The 49ers need to figure this out.